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peppertree's JournalVermont sues 4 oil companies, alleges false info on climate
Vermont on Tuesday became the latest state to sue some of the country's top fossil fuel companies by alleging they misled the public about the impact their products have on climate change.
The state wants the companies to tell consumers that the use of fossil fuel products harms the environment, Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said after the lawsuit was filed in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington.
The warnings could be similar to those noting the danger of tobacco products or food products that include nutritional and calorie information, he said.
At: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Vermont-sues-4-oil-companies-alleges-false-info-16458396.php
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan (left) announces the state had filed a lawsuit against four fossil fuel companies alleging they misled the public about the impact their products have on climate change.
Donovan says the state would like the companies to put warning labels on their products in much the same way tobacco products carry warning labels.
US consumer prices rise 0.3% in August, lowest in 7 months
U.S. consumer prices rose a lower-than-expected 0.3% last month, the smallest increase in seven months and a hopeful sign that a recent jump in inflation may be cooling.
The August gain was weaker than the 0.5% increase in July and a 0.9% surge in June, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. It was the smallest increase since prices rose 0.3% in January.
While the upward march of prices appears to have eased last month, supply chains are still snarled especially for critical components like computer chips.
Consumer demand is easily outpacing supply, which will push prices higher.
Over the past 12 months, prices are up 5.3% - down slightly from two consecutive months averaging 5.4%, the strongest 12-month price gains since 2008.
At: https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-inflation-consumer-prices-2479b000e3cb1b2fbc73651dbf8c45fc
A motorist takes advantage of a price break at a Corpus Christie, TX, gas station yesterday.
Nationally, gas prices rose an average of 2.8% in August - though total inflation slowed to 0.3% for the month.
Argentina opposition leads in congressional mid-term primaries
Argentina's main opposition coalition held leads in congressional primary elections on Sunday, early results showed, indicating a strong challenge to the ruling Peronist coalition.
Nationally, and with over 90% of the vote counted, the conservative Together for Change coalition had a strong lead of 41% to 30% for the ruling Front for All in House races - and 45% to 29% in Senate races.
The primary vote, in which voting is mandatory, is an acid test for President Alberto Fernández's government ahead of the November 14 midterm ballot - where half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies are up for grabs, as well as one third in the Senate.
Over 34 million Argentines were eligible to vote, with turnout (over 70%) confounding pessimistic projections.
The government now faces a challenge to its majority in the Senate and its working majority in the Lower House - where it has a slim lead of some five seats over the main opposition party.
Were the results replicated in November, the Front for All would lose 9 of its 120 House seats, and 6 of its 41 Senate seats; Together for Change would add 2 to its 115 House seats, and 5 to its 25 Senate seats.
A lengthy recession, rampant inflation and rising poverty have hurt public support for the government, despite recent signs of an economic recovery and falling coronavirus cases.
GDP, which fell 10% in 2020, recovered 9.7% in the first half of 2021.
And a ramped-up vaccination program - 84% of adults have had at least one dose - similarly overcame a slow start, curbing new daily Covid-19 cases by over 90% since late May.
"We had 99 normal days - and then the pandemic struck," Fernández lamented during a recent interview.
At: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentines-head-polls-litmus-test-peronists-2021-09-12/
Argentine President Alberto Fernández enjoys lunch with his center-left coalition's lead congressional candidate for Buenos Aires, Leandro Santoro, after voting in today's mid-term primaries.
Today's vote bode poorly for Fernández administration - in its first federal electoral test against the right-wing opposition ahead of midterm elections on November 14.
The addition this year of some 3,000 polling locations helped keep turnout high, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
First came a quake in Mexico - then strange blue lights
Mexicans are sharing spectacular videos of bursts of blue lights seen streaking across the skies as a strong earthquake rocked the country's Pacific coast city of Acapulco on Wednesday.
The 7.0 magnitude quake struck some 11 miles northeast of the resort city in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
At least one person was killed, buildings were damaged and rockslides littered a major highway - but the temblor didn't cause widespread damage.
Felt some 200 hundred miles away in Mexico City, and lasting nearly a minute, residents fled into the streets as buildings swayed, sidewalks undulated and the blue lights burst brilliantly in the sky.
At: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035335407/first-came-a-quake-in-mexico-then-strange-blue-lights-people-feared-the-apocalyp
https://twitter.com/Foro_TV/status/1435438035231928325
Yellen: U.S. on track to default on national debt in October
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday warned congressional leaders that the U.S. is on track to default on the national debt in October if the White House and Congress are unable to raise the debt limit.
In a Wednesday letter, Yellen said that the Treasury Department would likely run out of cash and exhaust “extraordinary” measures to keep the federal government within its legal borrowing limit at some point next month.
"Once all available measures and cash on hand are fully exhausted, the United States of America would be unable to meet its obligations for the first time in our history," Yellen said.
At: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/571237-yellen-us-on-track-to-default-on-national-debt-in-october
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifying in the Senate in June.
Yellen warned that failing to raise the debt ceiling - which was restored on August 1 - in a timely way, could by October result in the nation's first federal debt default in history.
Congressional Republicans are largely opposed to raising the ceiling on the $28 trillion federal debt - setting the stage for a showdown similar to the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.
Pinera decrees prompt new maritime limits dispute between Chile and Argentina
Two decrees signed on August 23rd by Chilean President Sebastián Piñera have renewed controversy regarding maritime boundaries between Chile and Argentina, following Chile's issuance of claims allegedly in violation of a 1984 treaty.
Piñera's decrees unilaterally extend Chile’s continental shelf east by more than 30,000 km² (11,600 mi²), to include part of the Atlantic Ocean maritime platform southeast of Cape Horn.
Around 5,500 km² (1,930 mi²) of that claim is disputed by Argentina.
“What Chile is doing is exercising its right and declaring its continental shelf,” Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said.
Argentina's Foreign Ministry responded that Chile intended to seize “a part of the Argentine continental shelf and an extensive area of seabed and ocean, a maritime space that is part of the Common Heritage of Humanity.”
Chile's claim east of the 67º 16' meridian - into Atlantic waters - “clearly does not coincide with the 1984 Peace and Friendship Treaty,” Argentine authorities stated.
Argentina's maritime limits were approved in 2016 by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) - a ruling ratified by the Argentine Congress in 2020.
“Chile had numerous opportunities at a bilateral and multilateral level to express its disagreement specifically - and, having all the information to do so, chose not to do so,” Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Solá noted.
Piñera dismissed the Argentine claim as “unenforceable.”
The two countries' foreign ministries have agreed to discuss the dispute however.
Chile and Argentina - then under dictatorships - came close to war in the 1978 over three Beagle Channel islands - granted to Chile by the 1984 treaty in exchange for rescinding Atlantic Ocean claims.
At: https://en.mercopress.com/2021/08/30/new-limits-dispute-arises-between-chile-and-argentina
A map detailing Chile's new claims (lower right) south of Cape Horn.
The blue crescent outlines disputed Atlantic waters resulting from Chilean President Sebastián Piñera's August 27th decree - a claim Argentina contends to be in violation of a 1984 treaty limiting Chilean waters to the Pacific (in exchange for the Beagle Channel islands).
Piñera's right-wing coalition is lagging in most polls ahead of presidential elections this November.
Army General Chris Donahue was the last soldier to leave Afghanistan
Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, was the last soldier to leave Afghanistan, officials said Monday.
U.S. Central Command released a picture of Donahue, 52, preparing to board the final military C-17 cargo plane to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of Central Command, told reporters in a virtual briefing that with the departure of the C-17 at 3:29 p.m. ET, "every single U.S. service member is now out of Afghanistan."
At: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/army-general-was-last-soldier-leave-afghanistan-n1278085
Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, seen boarding the last C-17 transport place out of Kabul earlier today.
Buenos Aires Province gets 98% backing to restructure debt
Buenos Aires Province won enough creditor support to restructure 98% of its $7.1 billion in overseas debt - putting Argentina’s largest and most populous province a step closer to ending a 16-month default.
The province, home to 3 out of 8 Argentines, will swap all of the bonds it had offered to exchange except for portions of dollar-denominated notes due 2021 and euro-denominated bonds due 2020 - which had been issued under rules that required a higher amount of creditor participation to pull all holders along.
The deal will allow the province to save $4.6 billion over the next six years.
The exchange marks a success for Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof, 49 - known for butting heads with vulture funds as Argentina’s economy minister in 2013-15 - and his strategy of structuring the deal in a way designed to dissuade creditors from holding out.
It also brings Argentina’s most recent round of debt restructurings nearer a close, after a sharp economic contraction exacerbated by the pandemic prompted nearly every province to restructure obligations over the past 12 months.
President Alberto Fernandez's administration likewise swapped $65 billion in securities a year ago - part of some $100 billion in added foreign debt inherited from right-wing predecessor Mauricio Macri.
At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-30/buenos-aires-province-to-restructure-98-of-bonds-in-debt-deal
Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof announces today's agreement with bondholders, with Provincial Economy Minister Pablo López.
The swap allows the province to emerge from a 16-month default, and to save $4.6 billion in scarce foreign currency over the next six years.
The province's foreign currency-denominated debt had ballooned by 68%, to $9.1 billion, under his predecessor María Vidal - part of a nationwide policy under Vidal's political boss, former President Mauricio Macri.
Argentine congressional candidate shot
Argentina's mid-term elections were shaken last night by the shooting of Miguel Arias, a provincial legislator and congressional candidate in Corrientes Province for the ruling, center-left Front for All coalition.
Arias, 71, was shot at an estimated distance of around 200 ft, reportedly from a .22 caliber air rifle - a popular weapon among rural landowners, many of whom are staunch opponents of the Front for All.
According to Corrientes Teaching Hospital authorities, where Arias was flown, no vital organs were impacted and he is in guarded but stable condition.
The incident took place around 7:00 p.m. local time in rural Tapebicuá, as Gloria Pared, candidate for Tapebicuá deputy mayor, spoke during a small rally ahead of Sunday's first-round elections in the province.
Arias was sitting on the dais with fellow Front for All candidates when he was seen clutching his abdomen at the liver. The shot had apparently been fired with a silencer.
“It is striking that they did not find who shot him,” Front for All gubernatorial candidate Fabián Ríos said. "It's a very small town, and it's inexplicable that it was not immediately detected who it was.”
Arias was driven to nearby Paso de los Libres - his hometown - where he received diagnostic surgery. He was later flown to Corrientes (the provincial capital) to undergo further surgery.
Argentine Security Minister Sabina Frederic flew to Corrientes Province earlier today, and ordered that Arias be guarded by federal - rather than provincial - police.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.eldestapeweb.com/politica/elecciones-2021/el-intento-de-homicidio-a-miguel-arias-estremece-a-corrientes-a-dos-dias-de-la-eleccion-20218278440
Provincial Legislator and center-left Front for All congressional candidate Miguel Arias, who was shot last night just days from Sunday's first-round elections in Corrientes Province - in NE Argentina.
The apparent use of a rifle with scope and silencer - a popular weapon among local landowners - and the lack of statements from Argentina's right-wing opposition have added to the intrigue around the incident.
Arias' shooting was the highest-profile attack on an Argentine politician since the May 2019 murder of Congressman Héctor Olivares, who was shot in a case of mistaken identity.
“In the rule of law, political violence is inadmissible,” President Alberto Fernández, who leads the Front for All, tweeted. “The provincial government must quickly clarify the fact and punish those responsible.”
Argentina's d'Alessiogate: Marcelo d'Alessio convicted on attempted extortion charges
An Argentine federal court presiding over a case of state-sponsored extortion from the Mauricio Macri era, has convicted four of the dozens so far indicted as collaborators in the 2016-19 scheme.
The Buenos Aires Federal Tribunal, presided by Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Enrique Méndez Signori, handed down a 4-year prison sentence against intelligence asset Marcelo d'Alessio and a 3 year, 8-month sentence against district attorney Juan Bidone.
Federal Intelligence (AFI) agents Rolando Barreiro and Claudio Álvarez received 2-year suspended sentences; Álvarez denied any involvement.
All were found guilty of the attempted extortion in 2016 of merchant Gabriel Traficante, 50.
d'Alessio, 51, an AFI asset with documented CIA and Mosad links, was denounced by Traficante of soliciting a ransom of $600,000 on threat of being tied in the media to the “container mafia” case - a case found to be concocted by d'Alessio for the purpose of extorting Traficante.
His collaborator, right-wing daily Clarín judicial affairs writer Daniel Santoro, had been indicted in 2019 for his role in the larger scheme - but was acquitted this August 13th after the presiding judge found that Santoro's involvement was due to "carelessness."
d'Alessio was likewise linked to Macri-era Security Minister Patricia Bullrich through presidential visitor logs as well as d'Alessio's own phone - both of which show frequent and cordial communications between them.
He chided Bullrich (and Santoro) in his final statement, for “running in a panic to use the media to cover themselves, saying that I was crazy and a liar, and even maintaining that I was talking to a grandchild” - a reference to Bullrich's defense when news of her calls with d'Alessio were revealed in May 2019.
From shakedown to breakdown
The wider d'Alessiogate scandal first surfaced when, in February 2019, 22 hours of incriminating tapes collected by farmer Pedro Etchebest, from whom d'Alessio sought a $300,000 ransom, were published by investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky.
The tapes show d'Alessio boasting that some $12 million had been coerced since August 2018, that political opponents had been “framed,” and that Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli (a close Macri ally) “managed” the enterprise.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.eldestapeweb.com/politica/espionaje-ilegal/condenan-al-espia-ilegal-marcelo-d-alessio-a-4-anos-por-intento-de-extorsion-en-el-caso-traficante--202182313170
Former Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and now-convicted Argentine Intelligence (AFI) asset Marcelo d'Alessio, with whom Bullrich maintained close and cordial contact throughout the 2016-19 extortion scheme.
d'Alessio was the first of numerous AFI agents and other officials indicted in the far-reaching d'Alessiogate case - involving millions of dollars in extortion and coerced testimony against opponents of right-wing former President Mauricio Macri.
Macri has close ties to both alleged principals in the extortion ring:
To Marcelo d'Alessio through d'Alessio's uncle (whom Macri appointed presidential notary public), and through d'Alessio's former law partner - who administered Macri's blind trust while in office.
And to Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli through the Boca Juniors football club (which Macri headed until entering politics); Stornelli was indicted in a related case but yet not convicted.
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